Composite shell

ABSTRACT

A thin-walled annular shell of high rigidity relative to its unit weight is provided. The wall of the shell is a composite material built up layerwise of glassy alloy strips of high transverse aspect ratio such that each layer is a strip wrapped at a substantially 45° helix with respect to the elongate axis of the shell and with adjacent layers having alternating directions of wrap. Bonding between adjacent layers and between strips within each layer is accomplished in a selected manner such that the composite wall is structurally monolithic for thin-walled applications thereby taking substantially full advantage of the extraordinary strength properties of glassy alloy strip.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to rigid thin-walled annular shells andspecifically to such structural shells built up layerwise from glassyalloy strips and selected bonding means.

Thin-walled shells are hollow structures having a wall thickness muchsmaller than the wall radius of curvature and are typicallycharacterized by a radius to thickness ratio of at least about 10. Suchstructures are highly efficient in sustaining nonbending loads, i.e.loads that produce planar (biaxial) stress within the wall but nosignificant radial (triaxial) stress. These shells have high strengthand rigidity relative to their weight (high specific strength) and areespecially suited for such applications as light weight torsional shaftsand conduits or vessels to contain high pressure fluids.

Thin-walled shells, such as tubing, may be constructed as a compositematerial by building up the wall layerwise from high strength strips, orother filaments, in combination with a bonding matrix. Such compositetubing frequently is superior to conventional monolithic tubing in thatimproved specific strength is obtained and in that the layeredconstruction will retard failure crack propagation and thereby tend toprevent catastrophic failure. By selectively varying the lengthwiseorientation of the high strength strips within adjacent layers, apseudoisotropic material is obtained typically having a bulk strengthgreater than that of conventional monolithic materials. However, sincethe transverse strength of the strips is typically significantly lessthan their longitudinal strength, the composite material has a bulkstrength significantly less than that of the maximum tensile strength ofthe elemental strips.

In contrast, the present invention utilizes, in a selected manner,glassy alloy strips to build up a thin-walled shell such that thecomposite wall material has a bulk strength approaching the ultimatestrength of the glassy alloy strips.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a thin-walled annular shell of highrigidity relative to its unit weight. The wall of the shell is acomposite material built up layerwise of glassy alloy strips of hightransverse aspect ratio (ratio of strip width to strip thickness) suchthat each layer is a strip wrapped substantially at a 45° helix withrespect to the elongate axis of the shell and with adjacent layershaving alternating directions of wrap. Bonding between adjacent layersand between strips within each layer is accomplished in a selectedmanner such that the composite wall is structurally monolithic forthin-walled applications (i.e. applications involving nonbending loadsand wherein the ratio of wall radius to thickness is at least about 10)thereby taking substantially full advantage of the extraordinarystrength properties of glassy alloy strip, characteristically having abiaxial yield strength approaching the ultimate strength of the alloy.

Thus, the composite thin-wall embodies a "maximum construction" inseveral respects. First, glassy alloys have a tensile strengthapproaching the ultimate strength of the alloy (glassy orpolycrystalline). Second, strips of glassy alloy manifest thisextraordinary strength biaxially in contrast to conventional highstrength strip having a substantial longitudinal anisotropy. Third, thestrips are bonded in selected fashion to take full advantage of theirhigh strength. Fourth, the adjacent layers are substantiallyorthogonally wrapped such that adjacent layers are reinforced biaxiallyand strips are oriented substantially along the direction of principalshear stress. Fifth, the layered construction retards failure crackpropagation, thereby tending to prevent catastrophic failure of theshell under excessive loading.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a composite thin-walledshell, comprising:

(a) a plurality of substantially orthogonally-wrapped concentric layers,each of the layers being a glassy alloy strip of high transverse aspectratio helically wrapped about the axis of concentricity, and withadjacent layers having alternating directions of wrap, further providedthat the ratio of the inner radius to the combined thickness of thelayers is at least about 10; and

(b) bonding means for providing a joining shear strength between thelayers and between the strips within each layer at least about equal tothe tensile strength of the glassy alloy strip divided by the transverseaspect ratio of the strip.

The strips are considered to be substantially orthogonally wrapped whenhelically wrapped at an angular pitch such that the axes of the stripssubstantially correspond with the direction of principal shear stress.Preferable, the angular pitch is in the range of about 40° to 50°. Mostpreferable, the angular pitch is about 45°.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details are given below with reference to the examples shown inthe drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a thin-walled tube of the presentinvention, showing the orthogonal wrap of alternating wall layers.

FIGS. 2 and 3 schematically illustrate the relationship between loadstress within a strip of the tube wall and bonding shear stress at thestrip faces in reaction to the loading.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Glassy alloys are of considerable technological interest owing to theirmany extraordinary physical properties as compared to the propertiescharacterizing the polycrystalline form of such alloys. The term "glassyalloy" is intended to refer to metals and alloys that are rapidlyquenched from a liquid state to a substantially amorphous solid state,typically having less than about 50% crystallinity, and is considered tobe synonomous with such terms as "amorphous metal alloy" and "metallicglass". Glassy alloys are well documented in the literature. An overviewof their properties is given in "Metallic Glasses", Physics Today 28:5(1975) by J. J. Gilman. Representative examples are shown in U.S. Pat.No. 3,856,513 "Novel Amorphous Metals . . . " issued Dec. 24, 1974 to H.Chen and D. Polk, hereby incorporated by reference. For an extensivebackground, see "Metallic Glasses", American Society For Metals (1978).

Specifically as regards the present invention, the mechanical propertiesof glassy alloys are extraordinary in that their yield strengthapproaches their ultimate strength, yet ordinarily fail plastically andnot brittlely, and in that their strength properties are obtainedsubstantially isotropically (nondirectionally). Thus, strips of glassyalloy manifest high biaxial strength (transverse strength comparable tolongitudinal strength) in contrast to conventional high strength alloystrip typically having a high degree of anisotropy (transverse strengthsubstantially less than longitudinal strength).

In the production of glassy alloy strips, typically an appropriatemolten alloy is quenched at extreme quench rates, usually at least about10⁵ ° C. per second, by extruding the molten alloy from a pressurizedcrucible through an extrusion nozzle onto a high speed rotating quenchsurface, as is representatively shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,571 for"Continuous Casting Method For Metallic Strips" issued Mar. 6, 1979 toM. Narasimhan, hereby incorporated by reference. Such filaments arenecessarily thin, typically about 25 to 100 microns, owing to theextreme heat transfer requirements to prevent substantialcrystallization, though considerably selectivity may be exercisedrespecting the width of the strip. Thus, glassy alloys are necessarilyonly available in commercial quantities in filamentary form; butadvantageously, such filaments are produced in one step without need forsubsequent heat treatment or mechanical reduction. This processadvantage in combination with extraordinary mechanical propertiesrenders glassy alloy strip ideally suited for building up high strengthcomposite materials and articles, either online or offline with thecontinuous casting process.

Referring specifically to the drawings, in FIG. 1 a thin-walled tube 1of the present invention is shown in perspective having a wall 2enclosing an annular space 3. The wall 2 is built up of helicallywrapped glassy alloy strips with adjacent layers having alternatingdirections of wrap. For example, the outer layer is shown as beingformed by strip 4 having a clockwise curl and the first inner layer 5having a counterclockwise curl. This alternating pattern is repeatedthroughout the wall 2. The strips are intimately bonded in a selectedmanner, as discussed in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3, so as to achievea structurally monolithic wall composite taking substantially fulladvantage of the high strength of the glassy alloy.

Helical wrapping is done substantially at a 45° angular pitch, theangular pitch being the angle of the longitudinal axis of each stripwith respect to the elongate axis of the tube. Since adjacent stripshave alternating directions of wrap, adjacent strips are substantiallyat a 90° angle with respect to each other, and thus are said to besubstantially orthogonally wrapped. The strips are considered to besubstantially orthogonally wrapped when the axes of the strips aresubstantially aligned with the direction of principal shear stresswithin the loaded wall, which corresponds to an angular pitch of about45° for a tube loaded in torsion. However, since shear stress varies asof function of sin (2p) where p is the pitch angle, there is littlevariation in shear over a small angular range about 45°. For example, ata pitch angle of 40° or 50°, shear stress is 98.5% of maximum.

The tube 1 is "thin-walled", as discussed above, such that the ratio ofthe inner radius of tube 1 to the thickness of wall 2 is at least about10. For example, given that a radius-to-thickness ratio of 15 and a tuberadius of 30 cm are desired, then the wall thickness will be 2 cm andwill consist of about 400 layers (strips) if constructed of intimatelybonded glassy alloy strips each having a thickness of 50 microns. Sincethe present invention is applied in thin-walled shells, radial stress isnegligible relative to the biaxial stress within the strips, and thus,the strips are the primary load bearing material of the wall compositeand not the bonding means.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, the relationship between tensile forces acting onindividual strips and bonding shear strength between strips isillustrated. Phantom element 7 is within a wall strip 6 and has a lengthequal to the width of the strip. Element 7, upon being subjected to atensile stress, is restrained by shear forces provided by adhesion toits neighboring elements. Equating these forces and solving for theshear stress, the following expression is obtained:

    T=S/(w/t)

where:

S=load stress,

w=strip width,

t=strip thickness,

w/t=transverse aspect ratio of the strip, and

T=shear stress between adjacent bonded strips.

Therefore, if the strength of the strip is S, the adhesive strength thatis needed to restrain the strip until it reaches its fracture strengthis T. For example, if t=50 microns and w=1 cm, then w/t=200; and ifS=40,000 kg/cm², T would need to be 200 kg/cm², which is quitereasonable for a conventional adhesive. This means that such tubes couldbe loaded, under torsion for example, to destruction of the strips butnot the adhesive. Conversely, given a particular glassy alloy having acertain strength and after selecting an adhesive, the minimum requiredaspect ratio can be determined by the above formulation. For example, ifthe tensile strength of the glassy alloy is 40,000 kg/cm² and theselected adhesive has a metal-to-metal lap shear strength of 400 kg/cm²,then the minimum aspect ratio for the strip is 100. It is noted that byusing strips of high aspect ratio, the strength of the adhesive isleveraged so that a structurally monolithic composite results therebytaking full advantage of the high strength of the strips.

Generally, any type of adhesive is suitable that provides a bondingshear strength according to the above formulation and is compatible forjoining glassy alloy substrates. Standard preparatory surface treatmentof cleaning and etching may be done to take full advantage of thebonding properties of the adhesive. Commercially available epoxyadhesives are representative of satisfactory adhesives. For example,nylon-epoxy adhesives and epoxy-polyamide adhesives providemetal-to-metal bonding shear strength of about 140 kg/cm² to about 450kg/cm².

Bonding may also be accomplished by soldering or brazing provided thebonding shear strength of the join meets the above strength requirementand further provided that the melting temperature of the solder orbrazing material is less than the glass transition temperature for theparticular glassy alloy, typically 400° to 500° C. If the glassy alloywere crystallized (and no longer glassy), then its extraordinarystrength properties would be diminished.

Wrapping of the multilayered composite shell may be done by conventionalmeans for forming composite tubing, for example by automated wrappingonto a mandrel as representatively shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,102"Composite Tubing" issued Mar. 22, 1977 to J. Delorean and C. Dirks,hereby incorporated by reference. The bonding agent may be interjectedbetween the turns of the strips during wrapping followed by heattreatment as required to complete bonding, e.g. furnace soldering,brazing, or adhesive curing. The shape of the cross-section of the shellis optionally selected according to the cross-section of the mandrelonto which the composite is formed.

The structural shells of the present invention may be used not only asthin-walled tubing but also as a reinforcing outer layer forconventional piping. Also, the high strength shells may be used asprotective shrouds, i.e. annular cylinders of low length to diameterratio. The shells may be used as magnetic shields, taking advantage ofthe combination of mechanical hardness and magnetic softnesscharacteristic of many glassy alloys, especially ferrous glassy alloys.Generally, the temperature of the shell in use should be less than theglass transition temperature of the particular glassy alloy.

Compositionally, a wide range of glassy alloys are disclosed inliterature, thereby permitting flexibility in choosing a particularglassy alloy according to the particular use for a shell of the presentinvention. By way of example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No.4,036,638 "Binary Amorphous Alloys of Iron or Cobalt and Boron" issuedJuly 19, 1977 to R. Ray and S. Kavesh, hereby incorporated by reference,in which is disclosed iron-boron glassy alloys having extraordinarytensile strength and specific strength.

Although the present invention has been described in conjunction withpreferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications andvariations may be utilized without departing from the principles andscope of the invention as those skilled in the art will readilyunderstand. Accordingly, such modifications and variations may bepracticed within the scope of the following claims:

What is claimed is:
 1. A composite thin-walled shell, comprising:(a) aplurality of substantially orthogonally-wrapped concentric layers, eachof said layers being a glassy alloy strip of high transverse aspectratio helically wrapped about the axis of concentricity, and withadjacent layers having alternating directions of wrap, further providedthat the ratio of the inner radius to the combined thickness of thelayers is at least about 10; and (b) bonding means for providing ajoining shear strength between said layers and between said stripswithin each layer at least about equal to the tensile strength of saidglassy alloy strip divided by said transverse aspect ratio.
 2. Thecomposite shell of claim 1 wherein said strips are helically wrapped atabout a 40° to 50° angular pitch with respect to the axis ofconcentricity.
 3. The composite shell of claim 2 wherein said strips arehelically wrapped at about a 45° angular pitch.
 4. The composite shellof claim 1 wherein said aspect ratio of said strips is at least about100.
 5. The composite shell of claim 1 wherein the glassy alloy has aniron-boron compositional base.
 6. The composite shell of claim 1 whereinsaid strips are joined adhesively.
 7. The composite shell of claim 1wherein said strips are joined by brazing at a temperature less than theglass transition temperature of the glassy alloy.
 8. The composite shellof claim 1 wherein said strips are joined by soldering at a temperatureless than the glass transition temperature of the glassy alloy.